Blessed Beyond Belief - First Baptist Church New Haven

Pt.8 Making Peace in the Midst of Harassment

February 18, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5:9–10

God tells us about both the blessings and the blastings that will be in store for us if we follow His way. - He tells us about both the gifts and the demands of His kind of lifestyle. - He tells us about both the rewards and the responsibilities of being His children. - He tells us about the sweet and the bitter side of life in Christ. God wants us to become Christ followers with our eyes wide open to all the possible consequences. - He fully intends for us to count the cost of discipleship as well as the dividends. - In fact, as we’ve studied the Beatitudes we’ve found that the Blessing only comes to those who are willing to pay the price. - And the last 2 Beatitudes that we’ll look at today is no exception: And yet, despite all that, the idea of peace dominates the Bible. - In fact, God the Father is referred to over and over as the “God of Peace”. - Jesus is referred to as the “Prince of Peace”. - And today, we find in our Beatitude that we are expected to be Peacemakers.

Pt.7 Seeing GOD

February 11, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5:8, Psalm 24:3–6

The Greeks called the heart the “cardia”; the freewill center where life makes up its mind. o The heart is the pilot of the airplane, the quarterback of the huddle, the engineer of the locomotive. o The heart calls the plays; the heart pilots the ship. o If my heart is filled (controlled and empowered by) His Holy Spirit, my heart will be absolutely pure, my thoughts will be pure, my eyes will be pure, my words will be kind, my magazines, my movies, my music, my television will be pleasing to Him, and not conflict with my spiritual growth. (Joe White, Promise Keepers newsletter, Feb. 2004)

Pt.6 Showing MERCY

February 4, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5:7, Psalm 145:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:14, Romans 15:7

What is mercy? a number of definitions that could be used. - But if we consider all that the Bible has to say about mercy, it boils down to this definition you can write on your outline: o Mercy is love in action. - It's more than just an attitude – It’s more than just feeling sorry for people – - It's doing something. - The Bible says God is a merciful God. - Psalm 145:8 The LORD is kind and merciful, slow to get angry, full of unfailing love. - Perhaps one reason we receive mercy when we ourselves are merciful is because we are, in fact, becoming more like Him. - As we adopt God’s character traits as our own, we more readily understand and experience His blessings in our lives.

Pt.5 Becoming RIGHTEOUS

January 28, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5:6, 1 Thessalonians 1:6–8

In many areas of our lives we hunger and thirst for things that don’t satisfy - But as we continue our study of the Beatitudes we find that Jesus makes us quite a promise. - Matt. 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Perhaps the reason most people are not living lives of satisfaction is because they have an appetite for the wrong things? Righteousness is a God-centered attribute… no man can attain it through his own efforts apart from His ordinance. We, humans, are inclined to follow our own paths and use our own ways instead of God’s. Righteousness is a beautiful gift from God to humanity through Christ’s act of love.

Pt.4 Learning Gentleness

January 21, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5:5, Numbers 12:3, Matthew 11:28–30

Involves Insight - We must Understand what Meekness is … Of all the Beatitudes… this is the most Misunderstood. Definitions… MEEKNESS Ø Is Not WEAKNESS o It takes strength and power to be meek… as we'll see in a minute o Jesus is not calling on us to be wimps. Ø It’s STRENGTH Under CONTROL o The word translated Meek … is the same word was used in NT times to describe a wild animal that had been tamed or domesticated. o Imagine a wild stallion never been ridden by anyone. - He’s never worn a bridle and bit - he's as wild as them come. - He’s full of energy & strength & spirit. - Take that horse over time… you tame him… you domesticate him. - He becomes meek. - You can put a saddle on him - his master can ride him - you can put a bit in his mouth and reins over his neck and he's meek. o Now what have you done to that horse? - Have you taken away any of that horse's strength? None at all. - Have you taken away any of that horse's spirit or his power? None at all. - Have you taken away any of that horse's energy? No. - The only difference between the domesticated horse and the wild one is that now, that horse's strength & energy are being controlled by his master for a useful purpose. - While the stallion is wild he is controlled by himself, his wants, his passions. - But the domesticated, saddled horse is controlled by his master and he has learned to obey his master's touch on his reins. o When Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek", He's not saying… "Blessed is the person that has no strength, that has no spirit, that has no personality, that has no energy." - He's not saying "Blessed is the wimp, or the timid, or the coward. - He is saying, "Blessed is the person who has all of his strength, and all of his spirit, his personality or energy, but they've allowed someone else to control them. - For the Christ follower this means we have placed ourselves under the control of God.

Pt.3 Repenting of Our Sins

January 14, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5

Mourning is feeling sorry for our sins against God to the point that we grieve over them deep down within our innermost being. Mourning is an intense spiritual experience where I lay my faults before God understanding that my sin is spiritual decay, disease, and death. "Mourning" allows us to recognize our own sinfulness and equips us to change – this is called "repentance" throughout the Bible.

Pt.2… TRUSTING IN GOD

January 7, 2024 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Matthew 5:3, Luke 18:10–14

The first portion of the Sermon on the Mount is known as the Beatitudes, which means “The Blessings”. - It also can be understood as giving the believer his “be – attitudes” – - the attitudes he should “be.” All of these character traits are marks and goals for all Christians. Statement #1…Jesus as always, begins with the heart. Statement #2…a person who is poor in spirit is a person who has realized that they have nothing to offer to God but a broken and contrite heart. The poor in spirit are those people who have learned not to trust in themselves or their own abilities …but have learned to trust solely and completely on God.

Pt. 1 Blessed Beyond Belief

December 31, 2023 • Pastor Dave Trimble • Ephesians 1:3–13

Two Ways We can approach God’s Blessings…v. 3 We can read about these spiritual blessings… turn away & go home unchanged. Or… we can perk up… and make a decision to do what it takes to appropriate it!